Wednesday, 29 November 2017

New Delhi, November 29: In the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections, 89 constituencies will go to polls on December 9. Fifty political parties and 443 Independent candidates are in the fray which is being seen as a direct contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress. While the BJP has fielded candidates on all 89 seats, the Congress on 87 leaving the two for its ally.

Among the 89 constituencies, Karanj is the smallest area wise and Abdasa is the largest. On the basis of electorate, Surat North seat is the smallest with 1,57,250 electors and the largest is Kamrej with 4,28,695 electors. There are seven seats with electorates being around 1,50,000 and 2,00,000 and rest having more than 2,00,000 voters.

A total of 2,12,29,941 voters will exercise their franchise in the first phase. It included 1,11,05,200 men, 1,01,24,494 women and 247 others. There are a total of 29 NRI voters and 6,014 voters from the Services.

On the basis of age, there are 35,29,363 electorates in the age group of 18-25; 78,68,876 in the 26-40 age group; 70,31,523 between 41 and 60 years of age and 28,01,890 above 60 years of age.

In the first phase of Gujarat polls, 27,158 EVMS will be used in 24,689 polling stations.
A total of 977 candidates are contesting for the 89 seats in the first phase. There are 920 men and 57 women candidates. The maximum number of 27 candidates are from Jamnagar Rural and minimum of 3 from Jhagadia and Gandevi.

The two-phased Gujarat elections will be held on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes and results will be declared on December 18.